How does one know their rightful position in the Body of Christ?

48  That’s a good one, very good, “How does…” That’d be the kind of question amongst many of us here tonight, “How do you rightfully know?” Now, I’m presuming that this brother wants to know “What position, what in Christ, what part of Christ do I play?”

49  Now, for instance, I’d say like this, brother, to give you the best answer I know. Your position is…in Christ is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. And then if you want to know whether it’s the Holy Spirit or not, find out whether He blesses what you’re doing, or not. And if He blesses it, then that’s Him. If He doesn’t bless…

50  Like someone said to me not long ago, said, “The Lord called me to preach.” I said, “Well, then preach.” See? And so he–he…

51  I really think it’s so…Satan, if he can just get somebody to–to act like that and then deceive them, that’s just what he wants to do. Then the whole world points their finger right there. Somebody thinks they have a gift of speaking in tongues and interpretation; some has the gift of Divine healing; some has these things like…Sometimes they’re mistaken in those things, see. And sometimes they think they haven’t got it when they have. So it’s very tricky.

52  So always do this, brethren, whenever you feel that you’re supposed to do a thing, first find out if it’s Scriptural for you to do it (if it’s in the Scriptures). Not just wrote in one place, but I mean completely Scriptural through the Bible for you to do it, your position, say if you’d be an evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, whatever that God might have called you to be. You see? Or if you have the gift of tongues, gift of interpretation, gift of any–any kind of the nine spiritual gifts in the church, and the four spiritual offices of the church, any position, first see if God called.

53  Then, usually, way I watch it for myself, just…this is me, I watch the nature of the person and see what kind of a gift that they’re professing. See, God will work with His creature the way He’s made him. See? He’ll make a creature…

54  If you see him real flighty and going on, you…and he says, “The Lord called me for such-and-such, to be a pastor.” Now, a pastor can’t be a flighty person. A pastor’s solid, sound. See?

55  “God called me to be a teacher.” And watch him how he interprets the Word. See? He gets It all mixed up and everything, then you can tell. See?

56  But, then, the thing to do, your position is usually known whether you can do it or not.

57  Now, when God called me to be an evangelist, I wanted to be a pastor. And I thought staying at home here would just be fine. And the Lord called me. And finally all the people got together…There’s not a one of them left tonight in here, that they cried and went out there on 1717 Spring Street. And the lady, Mrs. Hawkins over here, met me and said (crying, during the time of depression, when one in the neighborhood would cook a mess of beans and we’d all come in and eat from that), and she said, “I’ll allowance my children at the table if you’ll only build a tabernacle.” See?

58  And my calling was an evangelist. The morning…Laying right here at this cornerstone, if we could burst in there tonight, you’ll see a flyleaf off of my Bible where He told me to be an evangelist. See? And I wasn’t a successful pastor, never would be, because I haven’t got the patience and what it takes to be a pastor. See? So therefore if I tried to pastor, I would just be as far out as a pastor is trying to be an evangelist.

59  See what I mean? You can see the way the Lord calls you, what your position is in the Body. Is there a question?
William Marrion Branham
61-0112 Questions And Answers
Questions 109 (COD Page 519)

Is it true that you are not saved unless you have received the Holy Ghost?

43  There could take about a good five hour discussion on that. When you accept Christ as your Saviour and you are then ready for baptism in water, you have not yet been converted; you’re only believing unto repentance. Conversion means “to be changed.”
44  Now, to make this efficient, Jesus said to Peter who had also followed Him for three and a half years… And in the Book of Matthew the 10th chapter Jesus gave Peter power against unclean spirits, to go out and cast them out, to heal the sick, and to preach the Gospel. He had power to do this. And in Saint John 17:17 Jesus sanctified Peter through the Truth, said the Word was the Truth, and He was the Word. And then at-before Pentecost He said. “After you are converted, then strengthen your brethren.” You are only taking steps to conversion as you believe and are acting.

45  Now, I know many of you, my Baptist and Presbyterian friends, disagree with that, because you go back to this Scripture… Now, here’s where I say I have to nail it down. See? You go back to the Scripture: Abraham (Romans 4) believed God, and it was imputed unto him or imparted unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed God, and God imputed it to him for righteousness upon the basis of his faith to believe. But to prove to Abraham, He gave him (the impution, that he was imputed from his sins, then He had-imparted him from his sins), because he had believed, He gave him a sign. And there’s where you, my dear Presbyterian and Baptist friends, fail to see it. See? He gave him the seal of circumcision as a witness, as a proof, that He had received his faith in Him. And that’s why Paul in Acts 19 said to those Baptist brethren, who had Apollos as their pastor, believing the Gospel as John had preached It, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” You see, they had believed but had not yet been converted.

46  Now, we take the wrong-in the word of conversion today. We say that a man that’s converted is a man that’sstopped drinking and everything and goes to church, or joinsthe church. He might join the church, but that’s no sign he’sconverted. He isn’t converted until his old life is dead, and heis buried in Christ, and is risen with Him in the resurrectionof newness of life, when the Holy Spirit has created in him aliving hope of Eternal Life which only comes through the HolyGhost. See?

47  Now, now, I knowed that great Scripture, I use It myself-I’ve got It written here-Saint John the 5th chapter, 24th verse. It’s a pet Scripture to me. For Jesus said this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘He that believeth on Me has Eternal Life.’” Let me read it, so that I’ll get It just perfectly right. Saint John 5, and I want you to listen close now as we go into this Scripture, 5 and the 24th verse.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

48  “He that believeth on Me.” Now, the Scripture says that no man can say Jesus is the Christ only by the Holy Ghost. So you cannot believe that Jesus is the Christ until you have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You’re only testifying or saying what the Scripture says, saying what the pastor says, saying what mother says, or some good preacher says. But you don’t know it yourself until He has witnessed His resurrection to you. No man can call Jesus the Christ until by the Holy Ghost.

49  Therefore, the question is, that a man is saved, I believe, if he’s looking towards to Calvary, and dies in that estate. Certainly, I believe he’ll be saved; I believe he’d go through if he had not the opportunity before. But depends on… You go back to the dying thief at the cross. But remember, that was his first and last chance. You got one tonight. Don’t wait till that time, ’cause it might not be that way with you. You might not have a deathbed confession. I tell you, they’re all right, but they’re too much of a chance to take a chance on. Don’t you wait for deathbed; you let this be your deathbed right now, that you die out now and be borned again of the Holy Spirit. Now, on this next question…
 Now, if there’s a question on that just raise your hand. I’d be glad to do the best I can.

William Marrion Branham
59-0628E Questions And Answers

When Adam and Eve had their children in Eden, was there other people on earth at this time?

In Genesis the 5th chapter and the 16th verse, Cain dwelt in the land of Nod and knew his wife.

576  Now, that’s a-a wonderful question. Now, we are taught in the Bible… And many times these… sometimes we have carelessly… I used to put on a little slip of paper, and say, “Ask. Answer any Bible question.”

577  And someone said, “Well, who was Cain’s wife?”

578  Oh, I’d little joke with it or something, I’d say, “Oh, that was his mother-in-law’s daughter,” or something like that, you know, or-or “She was Mrs. Cain.” But that don’t answer the question. There’s…

578  Oh, I’d little joke with it or something, I’d say, “Oh, that was his mother-in-law’s daughter,” or something like that, you know, or-or “She was Mrs. Cain.” But that don’t answer the question. There’s…

578  Oh, I’d little joke with it or something, I’d say, “Oh, that was his mother-in-law’s daughter,” or something like that, you know, or-or “She was Mrs. Cain.” But that don’t answer the question. There’s…

Was there other people on the earth when Adam and Eve had their children in the garden of Eden?

580  Now, if you notice, in the Bible it’s very seldom ever recorded about a woman being born. It’s always the man child is the one that they record in the Bible, not the woman. Seldom is it ever mentioned about the birth of a girl baby, in the Bible. Or, frankly, I don’t know as I can recall one right straight off now, in mind, where it ever recorded the birth of a baby; said, “They begot sons and daughters.”

581  Now, the Bible only gives record of three children being born to Adam and Eve, and that was Cain, Abel, and Seth. Now, if all three of those being man, if there wasn’t any females borned, and then when the only female (Eve) died, the human race would have ceased to exist right then, because there’d been no way for them to-to have any… the human race to have furthered, because there would been no females left. Eve would have been the only one. But, you see, they don’t record the-the births of girl babies, in the Bible, so therefore they had to have girls the same as boys.

582  Now, the old writer, one of the most ancient writers we got, Josephus, claims they had seventy children, and Adam and Eve; one of the oldest writers, “seventy children, and they were both sons and daughters.”

583  Now, if… And then if Cain went to the land of Nod… Now, if you notice, the writer was very, very brilliant writing here. Did you notice how he quoted it? In Eden, when they had their children in Eden… Now, not in the Garden of Eden, the writer knew that. Ever who, wrote the note here, said: When Adam and Eve had their children in Eden…

584  Not in the Garden of Eden, because they’d been driven out of the Garden of Eden. But they were still in Eden, and the Garden of Eden laid east in Eden. But Eden was like a county or-or what… or a state, and then Nod was another state or county next to it.

585  Now, the only person that Cain could have had, or married, would have had to be his own sister. He had to. Because there’s only one male and female that they could have come from, see, and he had to marry his own sister. Now, that was legal in those days.

586  And Isaac married his own first blood cousin, Rebekah, ordained of God. Sarah was Abraham’s sister, his blood sister; not by his mother, by his father. See, a blood sister that-that Abraham married; a different mother, but same father.

587  So, you see, to marry in relation then, before the-the stream of blood was weakened in the human race, it was legal and all right. Now it isn’t. If you’d marry your sister today, and have children, they’d probably be… well, they’d just be deformed and everything. Even down to a first and second cousin should never be married, see, because the bloodstream becoming low and running low.

588  But the only thing then that Cain could have done, would been, marry his own sister. And that’s where the children was that… He got his wife, went to the land of Nod and knew her, and from there come the-the children. See, the…

589  And if you notice, out of the line of Cain come the smart man. Out of the line of Seth come the religious man, I mean, the-the vine of righteousness. Right there, those two, brought forth the very line that we’re living in today.

590  If you’ll notice today now (just in finishing this question): that lineage of Cain still exists, and the lineage of Seth still exists. They both come down just the same. Cain’s children is here in Jeffersonville tonight, and Seth’s children is here in Jeffersonville tonight. As the bloodstream weakens and goes out, but that lineage still hangs on.

591  591 Now, watch. Cain’s children were always… and before the antediluvian destruction, they were the smart people: the scientist, the educators; and very religious, but was the condemned bunch. See? Now watch, they were just like their father Cain. Cain, he was a religious man. He built a beautiful altar, and made a beautiful church, and tried to make it look prettier than that little mission that Seth had down there. Did you know that? He sure… He decorated the altar with flowers, and fixed it beautiful, and made it pretty; and made a great, big, swell church, because he thought that he could find favor with God by doing so.

592  And Abel went over and got a little lamb, and started pulling it over to the altar, and laid it on a rock and killed it.

593  And now, if God being just, if all He required was worship, Cain worshipped God with just as much sincerity as Abel did. Both of them were sincere. Both of them was trying to find grace with God. They were neither one of them infidels. They were both, absolutely, believers in Jehovah. Now, there, that gives us something to think of.

594  Some here tonight I’ve never seen, people; I’ve never seen you before. But you must realize this, and keep this in your mind. See? No matter how religious you are, that don’t have one thing to do with it. You might live in church, you might be ever so sincere, and you’re still lost! See?

595  And you say, “Well,” you say, “our pastors are the smartest, they come through the seminaries to get the best education. They’re theologians, they know all-all the theology and so forth. And they’re smart, trained, the very… the elected best that we know of.” And they could still be lost! See?

596  Now Cain, on his line: they were, every one, very religious; a very famous people; and they were scientists, and doctors, and builders, and workers, and smart man. But all that lineage was rejected, from Cain all the way down.

597  And on Abel’s side: they wasn’t builders nor educators or smart man; they were a, more or less, humble, sort of sheep raisers, and peasants, that just walked by the Spirit.

598  Now, the Bible said, “There’s no condemnation to them that’s in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” The spiritual man has a spiritual soul that can never die. And the carnal man has a religious atmosphere around him (and wants to worship and so forth) but is carnal; not an unbeliever, but a carnal believer; and it was the kind was rejected.

599  Now, from there, Cain went and married his wife in the land of Nod. Now, it doesn’t say who Seth married, or who others married. And the very beautiful thing of that is to know that-that, Cain marrying, we have the answer to it. Cause he had to marry his sister, or he… or there’d been a…

600  There was no more women on the earth, but just had to come from Eve. She was the mother of all living. That’s, all the people that was living, she was the mother of it. That’s the reason that she was… The word Eve means “the mother of the living.” So she came and brought this child. And Cain married his own sister, would be the only way that I could see out of it. So there was people living in that day, truly. See? Well, and… When Adam and Eve had their children in Eden… Now watch, that’s the question: When they had their children in Eden, was there other people on earth at this time? No!

Then in Genesis 5:16, you see, Cain dwelt in the land of Nod and knew his wife. Sure. See?

601  That’s Genesis 1, where He created man in His Own image, which was in the theophany. And in Genesis 2, He made man out of the dust of the earth, which was the human man that we have now. And then, in 3 was the fall, and was kicked from the Garden of Eden; and then the children begat children. And Cain took his wife and lived with her in the land of Nod, outside, because God had separated him from the fellowship with his own brother (because of the death of-of Abel). And that’s who he had, his own sister, and married her; is the only way that I can, myself, can see how that-that he married.

602  Now, it’s been said… And I hope that my colored friends that’s in here will excuse this remark, because it’s absolutely not right. The first time I ever met anyone in my life, after I had been converted… I was… met Brother George De Ark and them down there. And I was walked, and the Lord led me to a little place. And they was discussing where the colored man came from. And they were trying to say that the colored man… That Cain married an animal like an ape, and through there come forth the colored race. Now, that’s wrong! Absolutely, that’s wrong! And don’t never stand for that. Cause there was no colored or white, or any other different, it’s just one race of people unto the flood. Then after the flood and the tower of Babel, when they began to scatter out, that’s when they taken their colors and so forth. They’re all come from the same tree. That’s exactly right. Adam and Eve was the father and mother, earthly, of every living creature of human beings that’s ever been on the earth. That’s right. Black, white, pale, brown, yellow, whatever color you might be, that’s absolutely the place that you live in, and the way that-that the… Just like…

603  I think I might express this while I’m on it. The people here now in these segregations and laws and things they’re passing, I think it’s ridiculous. I really do. Listen, just let those people alone, they know what they want. God made a man a colored man, and he’s happy about it. Absolutely! If God made me a colored man, I’d be happy about it; if He made me a brown man, I’d be happy; if He made me a white man, I’m happy; if He made me a yellow man, I’d be happy. God made us in our colors, and He made us the way He wanted us, and we’re all His children. Absolutely! And they oughtn’t to fuss and carry on like that. That’s wrong to do that. They shouldn’t do it. God made us… the way we want it.

604  And the colored man, he don’t want to get out there and break up his-his generation or his color, and mix it in the white and everything like that. I don’t blame him. I don’t. The colored man has things that the white man don’t even possess. Absolutely! That’s exactly right. And God never intended them to be that way.

605  Well, look. The colored man is… he’s-he’s a… he’s got a-he’s got a disposition about him that the white man never does have. He’s got a happy-go-lucky, a “trust God, and just let the rest of it go”; whether he’s got it or whether he hasn’t, he’s happy anyhow. I’d like to have a whole lot of that, tonight, I sure would. Well, he’s got it, and that’s his possession; they don’t want to mix it up with some other race and break it out, either. That’s exactly right.

606  I think the lady down there at Shreveport made one of the best-best comments I ever heard in my life. She made a comment, and they put it in the paper. She walked up, she said, “The way these things are going in here, in this segregation, I don’t want my children going to school over at that white school.” Said, “They won’t get the attention they’d have if they had a colored teacher.” That woman’s a smart woman. She knowed what she was talking about, they get a better education. That’s exactly right. So I think the people do wrong by doing that.

607  And then they say, “Cain and Abel… ” and so forth like that. No, sir! The color had nothing to do with it. It’s the spirit inside of there that has something to do with it. That’s exactly right.

608  So Cain knew his wife, and that was his sister. And they… he took her to the land of Nod, and there come forth the great tribes of the earth: the religionists and worshippers.

Adam and Eve, were there others?